Installing VsCode C Compiler

Installing VsCode C Compiler

Using GCC with MinGW

In this book you configure Visual Studio Code to use the GCC C++ compiler (g++) and GDB debugger from Mingw-w64 to create programs that run on Windows.

After configuring VS Code, you will compile and debug a simple Hello World program in VS Code. This book not teach you about GCC or Mingw-w64 or the C++ language. For those subjects, there are many good resources available on the Web.

• Prerequisites

To successfully complete this book, you must do the following steps:

1. Install Visual Studio Code.
2. Install the C/C++ extension for VS Code. You can install the C/C++ extension by searching for 'c++' in the Extensions view (Ctrl+Shift+X).
   
3. You will install Mingw-w64 via the SourceForge website. Click Mingw-w64 to begin downloading the compressed archive file. Extract the tools from the compressed file to a folder that has no spaces in its path. In this book we assume it is installed under C:\mingw-w64.
4. Add the path to your Mingw-w64 bin folder to the Windows PATH environment variable.
   1. In the Windows search bar, type 'settings' to open your Windows Settings.
   2. Search for Edit environment variables for your account.
   3. Choose the Path variable and then select Edit.
   4. Select New and add the Mingw-w64 path to the system path. The exact path depends on which version of Mingw-w64 you have installed and where you installed it. Here is an example: c:\mingw-w64\x86_64-8.1.0-win32-seh-rt_v6-rev0\mingw64\bin.
   5. Select OK to save the Path update. You will need to reopen any console windows for the new PATH location to be available.

• Check your MinGW installation

To check that your Mingw-w64 tools are correctly installed and available, open a new Command Prompt and type:

g++ --version
gdb --version

If you don't see the expected output or g++ or gdb is not a recognized command, check your installation (Windows Control Panel > Programs) and make sure your PATH entry matches the Mingw-w64 location.

Create Hello World

From a Windows command prompt, create an empty folder called projects where you can place all your VS Code projects. Then create a sub-folder called helloworld, navigate into it, and open VS Code in that folder by entering the following commands:

mkdir projects
cd projects
mkdir helloworld
cd helloworld
code .

The "code ." command opens VS Code in the current working folder, which becomes your "workspace". As you go through the tutorial, you will see three files created in a .vscode folder in the workspace:

• tasks.json (build instructions)
• launch.json (debugger settings)
• c_cpp_properties.json (compiler path and IntelliSense settings)

Add a source code file

In the File Explorer title bar, select the New File button and name the file helloworld.cpp.

Add hello world source code

Now paste in this source code:

#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
#include <string>

using namespace std;

int main()
{
    vector<string> msg {"Hello", "C++", "World", "from", "VS Code", "and the C++ extension!"};

    for (const string& word : msg)
    {
        cout << word << " ";
    }
    cout << endl;
}

Now press Ctrl+S to save the file. Notice how the file you just added appears in the File Explorer view (Ctrl+Shift+E) in the side bar of VS Code:

You can also enable Auto Save to automatically save your file changes, by checking Auto Save in the main File menu.